Hiking With Gadget Girl
It's All About The Adventure!
08-12-22 Wonderland Trail:
It was a full moon last night, so bright that it kept waking me up. Speaking of sleeping, I thought I'd pass along some information to those who want to backpack or travel but don't because they use a CPAP at night and don't want to haul that heavy thing around. Jay has used a CPAP for years and was determined to bring a battery operated one along on our trip. He spent months researching devices and battery packs and testing at home and found a solution. Batteries are heavy but with careful selection he was able have two sets of battery packs in each resupply (and leaving the depleted ones in the resupply buckets for retrieval after the trip) and with the help of Karen carrying some of the load, he was able to enjoy the trip to the very last step on the trail. Each battery pack lasted three nights. The amazing thing was, the CPAP unit itself was silent. Never heard it running. Kudos and congrats to Jay for a job well done!
Today started out with a crossing of the South Mowich River. This river has a tendency of wiping out bridges on a frequent basis. We were so happy to hear that the bridge was up and waiting for us to cross over.
We had a 2,336 ft climb but the views of Rainier and surrounding terrain kept us engaged. The bear grass through this area had finished but it would have been spectacular to see it this year as the spent stalks covered hillsides for a long ways.
I stopped at one point, glanced up, did a double take as a young bear was staring back at me. He was so young that I froze in place as he decided to cross the rock field and I wanted to see where mommy bear was. I waited at least five minutes looking all around but no big scary mommy bear popped up.
I hurried through the next quarter mile hoping he was weaned and was relieved to see CW (clockwise) backpackers coming through. One hiker stopped and told me to make sure we do the Sunset Park trail when we arrived at Golden Lakes Camp. We would need to get directions from Ranger Matthew at the Patrol Cabin.
The campsites at Golden Lakes are quite small but we were able to squeeze in three tents at site #2. It had a lovely view of one of the Golden Lakes far below us.
After lunch, us three gals got directions, found the abandoned Sunset Park trail and headed up 919 ft.
It took some route finding but it was a blast and we arrived at the ridge with amazing views everywhere (except Rainier was covered in clouds). We even found a trailcam with instructions. We also saw another black bear way below us eating huckleberries and grass.
Wow, what a day....